Has It Been A Month?

Yes, yes it has been a month already. If it wasn’t for this blog, I don’t even know if I could remember what we did the first week here. We’re doing so much, it can get overwhelming at times. Another busy week has flown by… We went to the Lyceum Theatre to see The Lion King on Tuesday evening, which brought back countless memories of watching the Disney movie on VHS in the late 90s with Sam and Ellery. I find it hard to dislike The Lion King. It’s such a great story and as I mentioned, it brings me back to the evenings when the VHS tape just would’t rewind fast enough so we could watch it again. The costumes were intricate and stunning, to say the very least. I knew it wasn’t going to be the same exact rendition of The Lion King that Disney produced just under twenty years ago… Yet, the music that accompanied the performance was (noticeably) not the Hans Zimmer score. The music was enjoyable, for I always find it fascinating to watch the musicians in the orchestra pit, yet it was not the same music that won the Academy Award for “Best Music, Original Score” in 1995. Also… Mufasa… The actor that portrayed Mufasa was no James Earl Jones. He was good. But no James Earl Jones. All and all, I still enjoyed the production and am very glad I was able to see it here in London. (My favorite Hans Zimmer scores come from “Inception”, Chris Nolan’s “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”, “Gladiator”, “The Thin Red Line”, and “Black Hawk Down”. Check ’em out if you get the chance. He’s definitely got a signature sound.)

The Lion King – Lyceum Theatre

“I write some of the best music for the best action movies of our time, what do you want from me?”

On Wednesday we headed to Oxford where we spent a half-day touring some of the buildings and getting a chance to talk to two students who were friends of the children of our tour guide. One, studying Geography and playing lacrosse, the other studying Engineering and playing “how much can my liver actually take?”. Oxford seems to be on par with schools such as Princeton, Yale, and Harvard in the United States. I don’t have my camera on me at the moment, as I’m writing this from the college, I’ll upload some photos upon returning to the flats. While we were in Oxford, we stopped by a pub where both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (I’m going to start going by S.J. Prentice, although it doesn’t have that ring to it.) both frequented. History is everywhere. In addition to the famous pubs, we visited a location where some scenes from the Harry Potter movies were either filmed, or had set replicas made in the image of these rooms. 

Thursday was another full day. We started the day in the “Introduction To Theatre” class, which is an enjoyable course. We’re learning about some of the works of Harold Pinter as well as Allen Aikborn and will be eventually putting on short (2-3 minute) performances of portions from plays. Following Theatre, we had “British Life & Culture”, which upon hearing I’m taking a course titled “British Life & Culture”, many people assuming it’s “taught” at the nearest pub with the football match on. Contrary to this, we viewed a Karel Reisz film “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning” starring Albert Finney (see “Miller’s Crossing”, “Erin Brockovich”, or the unreleased “Bond: Skyfall” among dozens and dozens of other films.), which describes the life of the working class man in the late 50s/early 60s. A film made during the British New Wave years during the 60s, paved the way for films such as “A Kind of Loving” and “Billy Liar” which provided an accurate description of the life of the British working class and were unique to cinema during those years. Originally, “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning” was banned from cinemas for obscenity by the local authority in Warwickshire. Despite this, the film was nominated for 6 BAFTAs and picked up 3 wins including “Best Actress” – Rachel Roberts, “Best British Film”, and “Most Promising Newcomer to Film” – Albert Finney. Maybe not a film to add to the immediate collection… But perhaps down the line.

A throwaway design for one of the buildings from Nolan’s “Inception”. (Only joking)

Now we arrive at Friday. I only have British Life & Culture on Fridays from 09:00-11:00 AM. So I sit here at school where I have access to Internet. I figured I’d download some updates to my computer and Skype my dad while I had the chance. Big props to Chief for waking up at 6:00 AM only to Skype for a continually disrupted 20 minutes. The Internet here isn’t as reliable as I would have liked it to be. I’ve never really just sat in the school and watched the students and faculty mill about. I’m normally in and out, having to leave to get to the next destination, whether it be a theatre or on a bus to get back to the flats. After sitting here for about two and a half hours, I’ve noticed that the students here at City of Westminster College are considerably younger than myself and the other students in the Ball State program. It’s like being back at high school. After talking to some other Ball State students, the consensus seems to be we’re surrounded by kids ages anywhere from 14-? There’s no age cap. Granted, the Paddington Green campus, which opened in January 2011 is beautiful and very modern, but, man, these kids! I originally thought we’d be in classes with other British students, and upon arriving, I was bummed to hear we wouldn’t be. But now, I couldn’t imagine being in classes with any of them. Our “History of British Pop Music” instructor hit the nail on the head when describing the students at City of Westminster College…

I’ll be sure to get a post up going more in depth about the classes (only 3 of them at the College, not including my independent study) I’m taking while in London. Nothing on the radar for the weekend, yet. The six young women from flat two, with whom we normally hang out with, went to Barcelona for the weekend, so we’ll be left up to our own devices. As class started this morning, our professors decided it was important to regale the students about just how frightening of a place Barcelona can be for tourists. Tales of Rohypnol, couples waking up separated, undressed in parks and hotel rooms with no recollection of the previous night were tossed about at the beginning of class.

Our reaction upon hearing these stories so early in the morning.